1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electrical junction box for an automobile or the like, and in particular an electrical junction box for connection with a stacked connector obtained by stacking multiple connector housings.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrical junction boxes typically are used in automobiles and the like to facilitate the branching of wiring harnesses and connect wiring harnesses to electrical components such as fuses and relays. The electrical junction box typically has a circuit board housed inside a box body configured by combining upper and lower cases. Connection terminals project from the circuit board and into a receptacle in the box body. Connectors provided at the terminals of wiring harnesses then are inserted into the receptacle and connect to the connection terminals of the circuit board.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,830 discloses an electrical junction box that is intended to accommodate differences in the number of connectors and number of poles arising from differences in vehicle type and grade. The electrical junction box of U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,830 allows the connection of a stacked connector obtained by stacking multiple connector housings that have multiple terminal housing portions aligned in a row. The number of connector housings that are stacked can be varied to accommodate differences in the number of connectors and number of poles arising from differences in vehicle type and the like.
Electrical junction boxes of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,830 must provide connector locks to prevent unexpected separation of the stacked connector in the receptacle. These connector locks generally have been provided on the peripheral walls of the receptacle. However, U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,830 also has guiding grooves formed in the peripheral walls of the receptacle to guide the corresponding connector housing in the insertion/removal direction. The connector locks can only be provided on the side wall of a guiding groove, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 of U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,830. For this reason, connector locks of a size that allows engagement with only one connector housing are formed in multiple guiding grooves. Accordingly, it is not possible to secure sufficient surface area of engagement between the connector locks and the stacked connector, and it is difficult to ensure that sufficient fixing force always is obtained.
A connector lock could be provided for each guiding groove of the receptacle to obtain sufficient fixing force. However, this structure becomes complex and costly.
The invention was achieved in light of the above-described circumstances, and an object thereof is to provide an electrical junction box having a new structure that allows a stacked connector to be fixed more stably with a simple structure.